Keith Hill 
The Ecstasy of Cabeza de Vaca 

In 1528, a Spanish expedition was shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. Eight years later only four men remained alive. One of the four, Cabeza de Vaca, later published an account of what occurred. Naked and enslaved, de Vaca was stripped of all he possessed, then underwent an extraordinary transformation. The Ecstasy of Cabeza de Vaca is Keith Hill’s masterful retelling of Cabeza de Vaca’s story. This is a heartbreaking account of courage and faith, barbarity and miracles, that transports us to the limits of human experience.

EXCERPT

Nine days we walked that coast.

My one unshakable vow

made on the altar of my determined heart

was never to surrender

never to allow this gruelling wilderness 

to grind us dust to dust.

My two companions were not as strong as me

but they were part now of my heart’s promise

and I happily supplied the drive for three.

This is what a leader does:

he fights to place one foot, one body

one heart in front of the other

cajoling, pushing, demanding

to ensure our carcasses did not add to

the fated toll this coast took on its transients.

Such is the ignorance of man

that he apes authority and proclaims himself 

a primate power over his fellow creatures

(even if his motive is protection and care)

when each man’s projected will

is but one strand in the intertwined tracks

we tread through the world’s troubled choices.

I had yet much to learn of what 

truly chooses our course through life.

My first lesson occurred on the ninth day 

of this our southward trek.

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